Highland Society of London


The Highland Society of London is a charity registered in England and Wales, with "the view of establishing and supporting schools in the Highlands and in the Northern parts of Great Britain, for relieving distressed Highlanders at a distance from their native homes, for preserving the antiquities and rescuing from oblivion the valuable remains of Celtic literature, and for promoting the improvement and general welfare of the Northern parts of Great Britain".

History

The society was founded in 1778 by Highland gentlemen resident in London and was incorporated by an act of Parliament, the on 21 May 1816.
Within a year of its foundation, its members had come to include a number of notable Scots:
The Presidents over the first 25 years of the Society's existence were:
In 1782, the Society was instrumental in securing the repeal of the Dress Act 1746, the statutory proscription of Highland Dress, introduced after the Jacobite rising of 1745. It has a well known and definitive collection of clan tartans established in the early 19th century. In its early days it was active in the investigations into the authenticity of the poems supposedly by Ossian, which it had also helped to publish.
The Society supports and awards annual prizes for piping, including gold medals at the Northern Meeting and Argyllshire Gathering. Its early records are deposited in the National Library of Scotland.

Highland Book Prize

In 2017, the Society established the Highland Book Prize in collaboration with Moniack Mhor. Open to fiction, non-fiction and poetry, the prize "celebrates the finest published work that recognises the rich talent, landscape, and cultural diversity of the Scottish Highlands".
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019 prize was jointly awarded to all four shortlisted authors "equally as a collective, as a celebration of life, literature and community".
YearWorkAuthorResultRef
2024Night Train to OdesaJen StoutWinner
2024Birds Humans Machines DolphinsGenevieve CarverShortlist
2024GliffAli SmithShortlist
2024Women of the Hebrides / Ban-eileanaich Innse GallJoni BuchananShortlist
2023Sea BeanSally HubandWinner
2023Columba's BonesDavid GreigShortlist
2023Elixir: In the Valley at the End of TimeKapka KassabovaShortlist
2023Nothing Left to Fear from HellAlan WarnerShortlist
2023Wild Air: In Search of BirdsongJames Macdonald LockhartShortlist
2022Crann-Fìge/ Fig TreeDuncan GilliesWinner
2022Companion PieceAli SmithShortlist
2022Confessions of a Highland Art DealerTony DavidsonShortlist
2022WAH! Things I Never Told My MotherCynthia RogersonShortlist
2021The Stone AgeJen HadfieldWinner
2021Slaves and HighlandersDavid AlstonShortlist
2021Islands of AbandonmentCal FlynShortlist
2021In a Veil of MistDonald S. MurrayShortlist
2020The Changing Outer Hebrides: Galson and the Meaning of PlaceFrank RennieWinner
2020The Nature of SummerJim CrumleyShortlist
2020To The Lake: A Journey of War and PeaceKapka KassabovaShortlist
2020SummerAli SmithShortlist
2019The Frayed Atlantic Edge: A Historian’s Journey from Shetland to the ChannelDavid GangeWinner
2019SurfacingKathleen JamieWinner
2019SpringAli SmithWinner
2019Moder DyRoseanne WattWinner
2018Now We Shall Be Entirely FreeAndrew MillerWinner
2018The Assynt Crofter: Allan MacRae, A LifeJudith Ross NapierShortlist
2018The Last Wilderness: A Journey Into SilenceNeil AnsellShortlist
2018The Valley at the Centre of the WorldMalachy TallackShortlist
2017Border: A Journey to the Edge of EuropeKapka KassabovaWinner
2017The Finest Road in the WorldJames MillerShortlist
2017The Angel in the StoneR.L. McKinneyShortlist
2017The Potter's Tale: A Colonsay LifeDion AlexanderShortlist